No e-tolls for Cape Town, says Sanral

Western Cape / 10 August 2014, 4:40pm

SAPA

File photo: Bongiwe Mchunu

Cape Town - Cape Town will not have tolled freeways like Gauteng, the SA National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) said on Sunday.

“Firstly, whereas in Gauteng we went out to borrow money in order to build the road, with Cape Town we will be appointing a concessionaire on a Build, Operate and Transfer basis,” spokesman Vusi Mona said in a statement.

“This means the concessionaire will design, finance, operate and maintain the road, returning it to the state in a specified condition at the concession period.”

Sanral was responding to statements by the City of Cape Town and Right2Know that it would implement electronic tolling in Cape Town, as it had in Gauteng.

“Secondly, there will be conventional toll plazas along the N1 and N2. The electronic or automated method of payment, is a possible future consideration dependant on traffic volumes,” Mona said.

He said the upgrading of the Western Cape's N1-N2 Winelands highway road network was a major infrastructural investment. Road improvements along the route included the construction of a 13km new section of N2 in Somerset West/Strand, the provision of additional traffic lanes between Durban Road and the Koelenhof Interchange and between Borcherds Quarry Road and De Beers Avenue in Somerset West, Sir Lowry's Pass to Houwhoek and Florence and Worcester.

Mona added that 14 new/upgraded interchanges, provision of a second tunnel at Du Toitskloof on the N1, provision of auxiliary and climbing lanes, provision of toll-related infrastructure and equipment and Integration of facilities with public transport projects.

“It is always SANRAL's aim that the users of the new tolled facility, be it a brand new road or an upgraded existing road, will derive a real benefit when using that facility in comparison to what it was,” Mona said.

He said that however required funding. Sanral's allocation from the fiscus was about R10 billion per annum for the entire national road network and the N1/N2 Winelands project required about that amount, he added.

“We obviously can't allocate our entire budget to national roads that pass through one city. The fiscus is under pressure and we have to find alternative ways of financing road infrastructure,” he said.